Portsmouth, East Providence Police Help Feds Thwart $143K Bank Fraud Scheme

PROVIDENCE, RI — A New York man admitted to a federal judge Thursday that he was part of a conspiracy that tried to defraud banks in Rhode Island and nine other states out of about $143,000.

Paul Keenan, 54, of Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He will be sentenced on May 27.

Federal prosecutors said Keenan worked with his conspiracy partners to facilitate the scheme and recruit people to get their photos and personal identifying information. Keenan and his co-conspirators used the information to create fraudulent IDs that contained their own photographs and the personal information of some of the recruits, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Keenan and others got personal information from at least 28 victims, including their names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank account information. They also obtained information of at least 20 businesses, including business names and banking information.

Keenan and others used the collected information to create fraudulent IDs and checks, prosecutors said. They then traveled with recruits to banks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and at least eight other states to cash the checks, according to prosecutors.

Through the scheme, Keenan and others attempted to defraud banks out of $143,000, successfully defrauding 22 banks out of $93,200, according to prosecutors.

The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the East Providence Police Department, with the assistance of the Portsmouth Police Department.